Girona shows the connection between art and cuisine, from Catalonia to New York

From the local to the universal, from the Empordà to New York, from cuisine to art. An almost anecdotal event, the stay of the British artist and dancer Carol Goodden in Mont-ras (Baix Empordà) between 1962 and 1965, gives rise to a story that converges in the mythical Food restaurant in New York, a space frequented by many artists from Soho. This invisible common thread that runs from Catalonia to New York is the axis of the exhibition Food. The utopia of proximity organized by the Bòlit, Girona Center for Contemporary Art (from February 20 to May 30) in three spaces in the city.

In an unpublished autobiography, Carol Goodden explains her fascination for the Empordà landscape, but also for peasant cuisine, for the way of preparing the dishes, for the utensils that were used, for the stoves next to the tables. A community experience that he contributed to Gordon Matta-Clark, son of the surrealist painter Roberto Matta, who was his partner between 1971 and 1974. Together, in the company of Tina Girouard, they created Food, at 127 Prince Street in New York, a restaurant cheap, where young creators paraded who ended up being recognized names. The drawings that Matta-Clark made in a notebook about how this kitchen open to diners had to be is one of the key pieces of this exhibition, such as his mailing list .

The theme of the exhibition is the Food restaurant in New York, frequented by Soho artists

The Bòlit exhibition takes place simultaneously in three spaces: in the Pou Rodó, where photos, videos of performances, documentation and pieces related to Food and the artistic activities of 112 Greene Street are exhibited, another creative pole of the 1970s; in the old chapel of Sant Nicolau, where the links with the conceptual art of Catalan artists such as Fina Miralles and Pere Noguera, and other younger ones, such as Mar Serinyà and Marta Vergonyós, who have been commissioned specific productions are explained; and on the Rambla, reserved for multimedia installation Accident (1977), by Francesc Torres, which he presented in New York as a critique of the sociopolitical situation and modernity. A triple set designed by the three curators: Carme Sais, director of the Bòlit, thus culminating her eight years at the center; the art critic Eudald Camps and the Chilean collector Harold Berg, a scholar of Matta-Clark’s work, and a resident of Catalonia for more than twenty years, who have donated part of their collections.

Carol Goodden wanted to celebrate her 80th birthday in Mont-ras, a town where she says her passion for gastronomy began. The pandemic prevented it, but now it has materialized in this exhibition that is like an anniversary cake. Of it, a photograph that he took of the architect Richard Nona, during a visit to Cadaqués (1970), and several pieces that recall the relationship with Matta-Clark are exhibited, from an intervened drink can that he gave to the photos he took of her. while dancing in a building in the Bronx. And there is no lack of the photograph of the architect Richard Landry of the restaurant’s façade with its three young promoters, on which the old “Creole Foods” sign can still be seen.

The exhibition shows works by Catalan artists established in New York at the same time as Antoni Miralda and Antoni Muntadas, authors of a performance action in October 1972 with the title Sangria 228 West B’Way . Miralda is the one who has worked the most on the relationship between art and food and the video is shown Eat Art with Miralda , made with Dorothée Selz, and the lithographs and collage Josephine salad i Russian salad. In New York they coincided, and their works attest, with Francesc Torres and Àngels Ribé. They were de facto the “Catalans from New York”, as before there was the group of “Catalans from Paris” (Joan Rabascall, Antoni Miralda, Jaume Xifra, Benet Rossell), of whom some works are presented with an aesthetic halfway between the poetics and transgression.

The exhibition is completed with a program of activities that includes two performative actions on May 12: the Ocells al cap collective will recreate the one that Carol Gooden did 50 years ago at 112 Green Street under the title Raindrop Dance, with some dancers hanging from a beam, and the Nyamnyam group will present Ear kitchen, a sound intervention recorded between the kitchen and the restaurant room. During this month the presentation of the catalog and a debate (on April 30) with Harold Berg, Eudald Camps, Carme Sais and the gallery owner Richard Vanderaa are also scheduled.

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